Lake County School Board member Scott Strong has been pushing a businesslike policy for the schools to charge fees to outside groups for using school facilities. Apparently not all groups are charged in a consistent manner, and some don't pay at all. I attended the board workshop where this was discussed, and watched Board Member Jimmy Conners disagree with the policy.
But, it comes down to this... according to Supt. Anna Cowin, they have an existing policy and fee schedule, but not all school Principals enforce charging facility fees to clubs who use school property. Now, if Cowin is in charge, why didn't she make sure this policy was enforced? The lack of fee collection results in less funds for school teachers, etc. because the users of facilities use expensive outdoor lighting, and require custodial cleanup services, but apparently many don't pay the costs.
So, kudos to Strong for pushing the issue (even for use of school buses by groups), and the new policy may be decided tonight. We will miss his pragmatic, business approach to school spending when he leaves office in November.
As for Conner's opposition, it is mostly focused on booster clubs which do raise funds for sports and schools, so maybe they could establish a waiver of facility fees depending on the revenues raised by the booster clubs. But, a true business person would say, why give a fee break to sports boosters, since education, not sports, should be the main focus of spending for schools.
See the article at the link below.
vj
orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-lathletics1508sep15,0,570546.story
OrlandoSentinel.com
Space at schools
No more free ride for clubs?
Denise-Marie Balona - Sentinel Staff Writer - September 15, 2008 - TAVARES
Recreation and civic groups may have to pay as much as $120 an hour to hold meetings and practices at local schools.
For years, Girl Scouts, booster clubs and youth football teams have
used classrooms, cafeterias and athletic fields at Lake County public
schools when the regular students were not present.
Principals
sometimes charged a small fee. But most times they didn't. And during
the past few years alone, the various groups racked up tens of
thousands of dollars in electricity bills that the school district had
to cover, officials said.
School Board member Scott Strong
wants it to stop. Not only is it unfair to charge some organizations
and not others, he said, but the district can't afford to pay the bulk
of the cost for someone else.
He wants to require people who
use the facilities to help foot the cost of operating and maintaining
them, a proposal the School Board will discuss today.
"If you're going to be burning $20,000 worth of lights, somebody's got to pay for them," Strong said.
Can they afford it?
Last week, board members approved a budget they had to cut to offset a
loss of millions of dollars in state funding. Today they will consider
introducing fees at all schools -- from $14.40 an hour for a small
classroom to $120 per hour to borrow a high-school auditorium.
Though school officials and community members agree it makes sense to
ask private groups to pitch in during these tight financial times, some
worry the change would hurt local children.
Organizers of the Clermont Knights, a community-football league, said the poorest families would be affected most.
The Knights have used a field near Clermont Middle School for 12 years.
If they have to pay to use the field, organizers would have to stop
giving children scholarships to cover such expenses as equipment and
football and cheerleading uniforms.
The scholarships allow
about 100 low-income children to participate -- about a quarter of the
boys and girls involved, League President Nino Gargano said.
"The first thing that would go would be the scholarships," he said. "If
that is not enough to pay the fees, unfortunately we'd have to close
up."
The argument against
School Board member
Jimmy Conner has spoken out against the idea, saying the fee would put
too much financial strain on some groups, which could force them to
disband or pass on the cost to families.
"This policy will shut
the door on using our facilities," Conner argued. "The taxpayers bought
them and taxpayers' kids ought to be able to use them."
Strong
argued that the changes would allow more people access. Principals who
didn't want to loan out parts of their schools would be pressed to.
Also, Strong said, some groups that have adopted sports fields as their own would have to share more.
School officials said the fees were based on actual costs and aren't
designed to produce a profit. The proposed fee schedule also includes
the cost of having school employees such as a custodian on duty.
Possible waivers
Nonprofit groups and others could seek waivers, however.
The district has not addressed how it would handle situations involving
organizations that have already been maintaining school property they
use regularly.
The School Board will meet to discuss this and
other issues at 1:30 p.m. today at the district headquarters in
Tavares, 201 W. Burleigh Blvd.
Denise-Marie Balona can be reached at [email protected] or 352-742-5928.
Proposed fee schedule
*Classroom (1,001 to 2,000 square feet) -- $24.
*Elementary school cafeteria -- $30 an hour for the first two hours and then $18 afterward.
*High school gym -- $72 for the first two hours and then $36 afterward.
*High school auditorium -- $120 for the first two hours and then $60 thereafter.
*Practice field -- $18.
*Game baseball field with lights -- $60.
*Game football field without lights -- $30.
*Track -- $30.
-- SOURCE: Lake County school district
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